All of the Stars
by Iris RainbowWolf
Summary: Living in space wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. In fact, it was pretty terrible. Seren Gardner knew that better than anybody but after ninety-seven years of living in a cold space station, she and one hundred other delinquents were being sent down to the surface of the earth. It was a suicide mission given to them by the Chancellor. But she was going to make the most of it
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

 **L** iving in space wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. In fact, it was pretty terrible. I remember reading about this really old movie, Zenon Girl of the 21st Century. What a load of crap. If only life on the Ark was even remotely like life on Zenon's 'Spay-Stay'. But instead of epic clothes and concerts, we got fake food and a Council that killed their people for the smallest of crimes. For instance, if a child was sick, and needed medicine if the doctors or the parents went over the 'allotted amount of medicine' that parent or doctor was floated. Killed by sending them through the airlock and into space. If a mother was pregnant with a second child, both mother and child were floated.

Unless a criminal was under the age of 18, then we were sent to live in the Sky Box, the Arks prison, until our 18th birthday. Then we would be re-evaluated and possibly, _possibly_ , sent back to live with the rest of the community. I say ' _we_ ' because I was one of the lucky 17-year-olds that were sent to the Sky Box. All because one of my best friends, Monty Green, didn't replace the weed we had taken from Farm Station. Thanks to him, the two of us and our friend Jasper Jordan were locked up until our 18th birthday.

Mine was in thirteen days.

"Prisoner 624" stated one of the guards as he stepped through the door to my cell with a silver attache case. And he wasn't alone. Filing in behind him were two other guards, their shock batons at the ready. "Prisoner 624, on your feet" the large male guard stated. I was a non-violent prisoner, so I had no clue why the guards were acting like I was. Quietly I stood from my small cot and faced the man who had put the case down on my cot.

"What's going on?" I managed to ask when the case was opened, revealing gnarly looking metal cuffs.

"Face the wall" the guard ordered.

"What's going on?" my voice squeaked out the question as I did what I was told.

"Hold out your right arm." So I guess I wasn't going to get any answers. Unsurprising. Still, I did what I was told and held out my right arm. I had a feeling deep in my gut about what was going to happen, and it wasn't good. I still had thirteen more days until my eighteenth birthday, but I guess they just wanted to get it over with. Conserving oxygen and all that.

After all, why would they keep a criminal no-body alive when there were well-behaved important people to keep alive. Logically, I guess it made sense, but that didn't stop the panic that made my heart pound in my chest and tears to burn behind my eyes. I didn't even _breathe_ when I felt the guard grip my arm and the cool metal of the cuff hit my skin. I wasn't expecting the pain what came with the bracelet. A scream built up in my chest, but it was instantly muffled by the guard placing a hand over my mouth.

A few moments later, I was being led out of my cell with a tight grip on my arm. With wide, tear-filled eyes I looked around and saw that I wasn't the only one being lead to their death. This wasn't right. A lot of these kids were just that... _kids_. Children who weren't anywhere close to their eighteenth birthday. And a lot of them were non-violent offenders like me. Frantically I looked around for Monty and Jasper, but they were nowhere to be found.

While some of the other Delinquents fought against the guards, I walked silently to what I assumed was my death. I wasn't expecting to be put inside a drop-ship outfitted with seats. One for each and every one of us. What the hell? I was thankful, though, that the guard had let go of my hand and let me choose a seat of my own. Instead of the alternative, where they all but forced the kids who were fighting back into the seats and strapped in. Some of them were even tranquilized and carried inside.

Carefully I watched as the guards brought in the prisoners. Letting out a sigh of relief when I saw my friends. "Jasper! Monty!" I called out, waving the boys over to me; using my left hand considering the bulky silver cuff was still stabbing into my right wrist and it hurt too much to move.

"Seren!" they said at the same time as they rushed over to me and took the two open seats next to me. "Do you know what's going on?" Jasper asked once he and Monty were strapped in tight.

"Mass floating?" I suggested with a shrug. "I have absolutely no idea" I sighed.

It wasn't too long after that the drop-ship doors snapped shut and I gripped the boys' hands in fear. The next few minutes were spent with my eyes closed and my teeth sinking sharply into my lower lip. If the boys said anything to me, it fell on deaf ears. At this point, I figured that they weren't floating us. But since that wasn't the case... then what the hell was going on?

* * *

 **I** must have passed out in my seat because the next thing I knew the floor was shaking beneath my feet. "What happened?" I groaned. "What's going on?" I asked the boys.

"You passed out," Monty told me. "And according to that guy", he pointed across the way to a boy I vaguely recognized as the Chancellors son. "We just hit the atmosphere."

"Wait, like _earths_ atmosphere?" I asked. Just then, the small screen above my head came to life. Looking around I saw similar screens flicker on.

"' _Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now_.'" Chancellor Jaha's voice rang out, his demeanor calm as ever. "' _You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for_ _ **all**_ _of us, indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there'"_ he told us. Nervously, I looked at my boys and held onto their hands. "' _If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable.._ '"

"Your dad is a dick, Wells!" I heard a boy call out. He wasn't wrong.

Jaha went on to state that our crimes would be forgiven. Not too hard to forgive people who were dead. Because that's just what he was doing. He and the Council were sending all of us to our deaths. If the earth was safe, radiation-wise, then it would be the other dangers that the ground posed. Exposure, lack of food and water, wild mutated animals and of course... not all of the delinquents were locked up for non-violent crimes. Plus, our Earth Skills teacher was a psychopath who barely taught us anything.

There were a few boys who had decided to unstrap their belts and float around the dropship. The first was a guy I knew as Finn Collins, AKA the Space Walk Bandit. He had been arrested for going on an illegal spacewalk and wasting a few months worth of oxygen. While the other two boys... well, I actually had no clue who they were. And, as it turns out, I never would. When the parachutes deployed, all three of them went flying. My stomach turned when I saw the two guys on the ground. Lifeless.

"Listen" Monty spoke up once the ship stopped. "No machine hum," he said. Closing my eyes, I tilted my head to the side and listened. As usual, Monty was right. There was none of that ever-present hum of machines keeping us alive.

"Whoa" came Jaspers' voice. "That's a first," he said.

With a grin, I opened my eyes and looked at my boys. "A girl could get used to that."

The silence was short lived, however, as we all started undoing our seatbelts. I would say that I would have normally waited for Monty and Jasper...but that would be a lie. The second my seatbelt was undone, I ran to the lower level, where the door to the outside waited. I just wasn't expecting to see a guy a few years older in a guards uniform.

A second later, I was being shoved into him. Quietly, I thanked him as he held me up before addressing the delinquents behind me. "Hey, just back it up, guys," he said, his voice sending a slight shiver down my spine. Then, he turned and went to open the door, only to be stopped by Dr. Griffin's daughter yelling at him.

"The air could be toxic," she said.

"If the air's toxic, we're dead anyway" was his response.

"Bellamy?" a tired female voice called out, stopping the guy from pulling the hatch once again. He then turned, a look of shock and relief etched on his face. Following Bellamy's gaze, I saw a pretty brunette. Her name was Octavia, we weren't friends, but I had helped her a little bit during our forced Earth Skills classes. As an illegal child, she didn't get the same school opportunities the rest of us did. Looking at my feet, I backed away from the door a little so that the siblings could have their moment. Not for the first time, I wished I could have something like that. The closest thing I had to siblings were Monty and Jasper.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Octavia asked her brother. "A guards uniform?" So I guess Bellamy _wasn't_ a guard then?

"I borrowed it to get on the dropship," he said. "Someone has got to keep an eye on you."

"Where's your wristband?" asked the pushy blonde, causing both Octavia and I to turn on her with fire in our eyes.

"No need to be rude" I muttered.

"Do you mind?" Octavia asked, her question was obviously directed to the blonde. "I haven't seen my brother in a year" she added.

"No one has a brother" some idiot in the back called out.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor."

I couldn't blame Octavia for lashing out. If I were put in her position, I probably would have reacted the same way. So when she went to rush by me, I simply stepped to the side. Only she didn't make it that far, Bellamy had instantly reached out and grabbed Octavia around the waist and pulled her back.

"Let's give them something else to remember you by," he told her softly.

"Yea? Like what?"

"Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years" Bellamy smirked.

Octavia gave him a smile in return before her eyes cut to me. "You're coming too," she said and I just looked at her in confusion. "We're friends, right?" she asked.

"I gue..." I started but stopped with a shake of my head before grinning widely. "Yea, yes, we're friends." As I took Octavia's hand, I looked over my shoulder to try and find Monty and Jasper. But they weren't in the small crowd behind me. With a shuddering breath, I squeezed Octavia's hand but kept my eyes locked on the door.

When Bellamy finally pulled the lever, I had to close my eyes to block out the bright light. Squinting against the sunshine, I walked down the ramp that the door had made with Octavia at my side.

"I think this part is all you" I finally spoke, looking at the brunette.

"What, but..." she stammered.

"The world is yours, Octavia," I told her with a smile, dropping her hand as soon as we made it to the edge of the ramp. And then, Octavia Blake became the first of us delinquents to stand on the ground.

As she stood there, taking in her surroundings, I did the same. The trees were greener than I had even imagined and the air was warm with the remaining heat of summer. There were even _birds_ chirping in the trees.

"We're back bitches!"

With that, before the rest of the prisoners could, I jumped off the ramp and gripped Octavia in a hug. Letting go when Bellamy came over to us with the others running around us. Leaving the two siblings, I glanced around for my boys. Grinning when I saw the back of Jaspers head, I all but skipped over to them. Jumping onto the lanky dweebs back with a laugh.

"Seren!" Jasper laughed, spinning around with me on his back.

"Can you believe it?" Monty asked, his dark eyes shining in the sunlight.

"Its freaking surreal" I breath, looking around at the mossy trees. "So, I hate to be the one to bring it up but... how likely do you think it is to find something to smoke down here?" I asked with a playful smirk.

"You would think that since pot is the reason why we were arrested that you wouldn't actively go looking for it," Jasper said as he dropped my legs.

"No, Jas, _Monty's_ the reason we got busted" I reminded. "But it's cool, I forgive you," I told him as if that had been a real concern. I had never once been made at Jasper or Monty for anything. Ever. We were family, end of story.

* * *

 **T** he next twenty minutes or so was spent wandering around the drop site. At some point in time, Jasper had found himself part of a small group of guys that I didn't trust one bit. I didn't say anything to him about it, though. Instead, me, him and Monty laughed and joked.

When we noticed that the Griffin girl, C-something, had a map, Jasper simply sent Monty and I a playful wink before sauntering over to where the girl and Jaha Jr stood.

"Cool, a map. They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer." he said to the two of them, only for Wells to turn on him and grip his scrawny arm roughly. Instantly, my spine straightened and I went to step forward. But Jaspers new 'friends' beat me to the punch.

"Hey, hey, hey, hands off of him," said the creepy ring leader. "He's with us."

"Relax," Wells said, "We're just trying to figure out where we are."

I honestly wasn't expecting Bellamy to speak up, "We're on the ground" came his voice, once again sending pleasant shivers down my spine. "That not good enough for you?" he asked.

From where I stood, I could see Wells' jaw tick in aggravation. "We need to find Mount Weather," the Chancellors son told the older man. "You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority."

"Screw your father" Octavia spat.

"Seconded" I rose my hand. "Your father sent 100 children to their deaths" I added, brushing past the blonde so that I could stand next to Octavia.

"What," my new friend continued with a sneer. "You think you're in charge here, you and your little _princess."_

"Do you think we care who's in charge?" the bossy girl said, "We _need_ to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be."

I hated that I was just like everyone else when it came to the... _animosity_ I felt for people like Jaha Jr and Princess Griffin. They were the privileged kids, the ones who didn't have to share a graham cracker with their parents for dinner. Everyone had a strict allotment, but the privileged ones got more than their fair share; as if being in a position of power made them more worthy of basic needs than the rest of us. And then they wonder why so many citizens of the Ark start stealing or even lash out against the Council.

I also hated that Princess Griffin was right. Between Monty and I, we could identify edible and toxic plants. I could even make medicines from those plants. But we still needed meat, and blankets and a place to sleep. Even if all we could find were tents.

"How long do you think we'll last without those supplies?" she asked. "We're looking at a 20-mile trek, okay? So if we wanna get there before dark, we need to leave _now_."

"I got a better idea" Bellamy started. "You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change." At Bellamy's words, there was a chorus of agreement throughout the camp.

"He's not wrong" I shrugged when the blonde girl looked at me for whatever reason. "But neither are you. If we're taking a vote, mine would be for you guys going off into the wilderness with _volunteers_. While the rest of us hold down the fort here, just in case you all get eaten by mutated elephants or something."

"You're not listening," Wells said, obviously ignoring me. "We _all_ need to go."

With a quiet scoff, I rolled my eyes. I went to speak up once again, but the creepy guy who was leading the group of guys that had come to Jaspers rescue earlier. "Look at this, everybody... the Chancellor of Earth" he sneered, causing the rest of us to chuckle.

It didn't take much for a small scuffle to ensue. Though it was mostly the rat-faced boy whose name I believed was Murphy, picking on Wells. I part of me felt a little bad, Murphy had stomped on Well's ankle, causing the Chancellor's kid to stumble and probably sprain it. He couldn't even stand and I could guarantee that he more than likely didn't even know how to throw a decent punch. Thankfully we didn't need to find out, as Finn jumped down from where ever it was that he had been hiding and got between the two boys.

"Hey, Spacewalker," Octavia stepped forward. "Rescue me next" she flirted, and I had to stifle a laugh as the crowd dispersed and Bellamy walked over to his sister. "What? He's cute. Right, Seren?" she asked, looking at me over her brother's shoulder.

"Not really my type" I shrugged.

"He's a criminal," Bellamy told her, causing Octavia to roll her eyes.

"We're all criminals," I told him before walking over to Monty and Jasper. "So about that beer" I smirked, shoving Jaspers shoulder playfully. "But for real though, I bet we could find some fun plants around here."

"And some medicinal herbs" Monty agreed. "Spearmint, Yarrow, stuff like that."

"I'll keep my eyes open" I nodded. Suddenly, someone came up behind us and grabbed the boys by the shoulders. Turning I saw that it was just Finn.

"4 of us. Can we go now?" he said.

"Woah, go?" I asked. "Nu-uh. Make that five, these two idiots don't go anywhere without me."

"Sounds like a party" I heard Octavia say, looking over I saw her and Bellamy coming over to us. "Count me in."

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Bellamy hissed.

"Going for a walk."

"Hey" the blonde spoke up, grabbing Finns wrist. "Were you trying to take this off?" she asked, looking at his wristband. Causing me to look down at my own. I don't know why I hadn't thought about taking the stupid thing off. It still hurt like a bitch.

"Yea. So?" Finn shrugged, causing the girl to scoff.

"So, this wristband transmits your vital signs to the Ark," she said. "Take it off, and they'll think you're dead."

"Should we care?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead?" she asked me. "Do you want them to follow you down here in a few months? Because they won't if they think we're dying."

"The only people who matter to me are already down here," I told her, motioning to Monty and Jasper. "Now let's go get those supplies."

* * *

 **W** e left the drop site a little while later. I had even managed to find a small burlap bag inside, and I brought that with me. Just in case we came across any nuts or berries, herbs, anything we could eat.

As we walked, I stayed between Monty and Jasper, while Octavia and Finn flirted and Clarke, Princess Griffin, brooded. Monty and Jasper joked back and forth, while I was mostly silent, keeping my eyes peeled. I was honestly surprised when we happened upon a whole grove of poison sumac bushes. Instantly, I picked a few of the flowers and put them in my bag.

"Now that, my friends, is game" Jasper pointed out, causing me to let out a snort of laughter.

"That, my _friend_ , is poison sumac" Monty pointed out, causing Octavia to shake the flower from her hair.

"Relax," I told her as Monty plucked a flower and handed it to me. "The flowers aren't poisonous. They're actually medicinal, lots of vitamins and it's really easy to brew them into teas."

"Monty's family grows all the pharmaceuticals on the Ark" Jasper explained. "And Seren was apprenticing at the greenhouses" he added.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke said impatiently, I just rolled my eyes.

"Come on, Clarke, how do you block all this out?" Finn asked her.

"Well, it's simple" she started. "I wonder 'why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty though. Come on."

Again I rolled my eyes and pulled a sumac flower out of my bag. "Some should slip her some poison sumac" Octavia muttered, causing me to laugh and choke on the petal I was nibbling on.

I walked at my own pace just behind the boys. Picking at leaves and flower petals as I went. Clarke had complained again that I wasn't keeping up with the group. But I simply shrugged and told her that she could suck it up or not get her share of the berries I had picked. That shut her up pretty quickly.

Octavia had even kept me company and I showed her a little bit of what I knew. This was a better learning experience than any Earth Skills class we had on the Ark. I was still a little... awkward about our new found friendship. Other than my boys... I didn't _have_ friends. I was the weird orphan girl who liked reading about plants. So when Octavia asked me what my type was, referring to my earlier comment about her crush, I simply groaned. Monty and Jasper never asked me these kinds of questions.

"So, I've _got_ to know what the three of you did to get busted" Finna interrupted Octavia, thankfully.

"Yea, I've been wondering about that too," Octavia said as she pushed ahead to walk next to Finn again.

"Sumac wasn't the only _herb_ in the garden...if you know what I mean," Monty told the, "And Seren _always_ had the best crop."

"But _someone_ forgot to replace what we took," I said, looking pointedly at Monty.

" _Someone_ has apologized, like 1,000 times," the boy said.

"So what'd they get you for?" Jasper asked Octavia.

Octavia's whole demeanor changed just then and I couldn't help the wince. I knew what they had arrested Octavia for, it was common knowledge. Somehow, my tactless friend forgot that Octavia was a second child.

" _That_ , my friend. is the complete opposite of game" I said, as I watched Octavia run ahead to where Clarke had crouched down. Waving us over, Clarke smiled and put a finger on her lips. Joining the others, I looked on with awe. In the clearing, not too far away from us, was a _deer_. It was absolutely beautiful.

"No animals, huh?" Finn smiled, leaning a little towards Clarke before creeping closer to get a better look. However he didn't watch his step and a dry twig snapped beneath his boot, spooking the deer. I knew that earth had to of had mutated animals, but I wasn't expecting the buck to have _another face_. It was freaky looking and it naturally spooked my little group.

"I knew I should have stayed back at camp" I mumbled. "I'm blaming you" I added, pointing to Finn.

"How is it my fault?"

"You volunteered Monty and Jasper" I shrugged. "My plan was to stay back, but _you_ had to bring these two idiots along with you." I wasn't _actually_ mad at Finn of course. I just had a really really _really_ bad feeling about Mount Weather, and if there were mutated deer...then there was probably mutated predators. Maybe even people.

"You can go back if you want," Clarke told me, her blue eyes soft.

I really hated to be the wimp out of our group. Really I thought that it would be Monty, but he was holding strong. Letting out a sigh, I simply ran a hand through my messy hair.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "No, I'm good."

"You sure, Seren?" Jasper asked. "You look pretty freaked.

"I'm sure, loser, now let's go," I told him with a roll of my eyes before I started off into the woods once again.

As we walked, Monty and I pointed out all of the plants that were edible. We also made note of the ones that were poisonous, and ones that we had never seen before. Obviously, the radiation mutated more than the animals.

I had stuck close to Octavia, too, showing her a little of what I knew. It didn't take long for me to realize that having a female friend would be good for me. And I think having a friend outside of her brother would be good for her. As I got to know her a little better, I realized that the girl was slightly boy crazy. I couldn't blame her, though. She had spent most of her life hidden away one way or another and the only male she had ever really known was her brother. Octavia had once again asked me what I looked for in a guy, a question that made Jasper and Monty chuckle.

Though I didn't really have a specific 'type', I had ... _dated_ around, for lack of a better term. It wasn't like I was sleeping with a new guy every day, but I didn't usually look for anything other than a one night stand every couple of months. Just something to take away the boredom and stress. When I told Octavia this, a light blush graced her cheeks and I could help but smile at her.

We stopped to rest for a few minutes. Not one of us were used to walking this much over this type of terrain. The Ark sucked and the Earth Skills classes sucked even more. Munching on a few berries I had foraged, Jasper and Monty joked about the last guy I was seeing, causing me to groan. His name was Dustin Gomes and he was... well, _clingy_. While I had wanted a simple hookup, Dusty had wanted the whole shebang. Marriage and a kid and all the things I didn't want just yet. I just wanted to grow plants and hang out with my boys.

The day before I had gotten arrested, Dustin had been trying to get me alone. Jasper was under the impression that he was going to propose and I didn't doubt it. Since my eighteenth birthday was right around the corner, he thought that there was a time limit.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know?" Finn asked when we mobilized again, effectively taking my mind off of my ex. "Why send us down today after 97 years? What changed?"

"Who cares?" Octavia responded. "I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest

"Preach" I agreed. I stumbled a little bit down the incline we were taking and winced when I hit my wrist on a tree, the one with the wristband.

"Maybe they found something on a satellite," Monty suggested. "You know, like an old weather satellite or..."

"It wasn't a satellite" Clarke interrupted, her tone suggesting we were idiots for not knowing what she knew. "The Ark is dying." That caused us all to stop except for the blonde who just pushed passed us. "At the current population level, there's roughly 3 months left of life support, maybe 4 now that we're gone."

"So that was the secret they locked you up to keep," Finn said. "Why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?"

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw" Clarke sighed as we trailed behind them. "He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells..." she trailed off.

"He turned in your dad didn't he?" I asked when Clarke didn't say anything I just scoffed. "What a douche."

"Anyway," Clarke sighed once again obviously not wanting to think about her best friends betrayal. "The Guard showed up before we could. That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time."

"They're gonna kill more people aren't they?" Monty asked. But Clarke didn't answer and we all stopped walking.

"Good" Octavia spoke up. "After what they did to me, I say float them all," she said as she walked passed us.

Jasper was the only one to follow after her. "You don't mean that," he said.

I agreed with Octavia. Back at the drop site, I had meant what I said. Everyone I cared about was already on the ground. I didn't have anyone up on the Ark, and the only ones they would keep alive if possible would be the people who deserved to float more than anyone.

With a shrug, I followed after Octavia and Jasper. Only to bump into my best friends back when he stopped short. "Oh damn, I love earth," he said. Looking over his shoulder I saw what he was seeing, Octavia, stripping down in front of a small stream. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that Clarke looked absolutely appalled at the skin the Blake girl was showing while the boys were...well, _boys_. Rolling my eyes, I joined my friend on the rocks and looked down at the water. There was no water on the Ark, at least not like this. So naturally none of us knew how to swim, But this stream wasn't all that deep, maybe about waist high, so it's not like we would drown. Sharing a grin with Octavia, I stripped off my jacket and kicked off my boots before stepping to the edge and grabbing Octavia's hand.

"Seren! Octavia, what the hell are you two doing!?" Clarke yelled when she realized what we were doing. Octavia just looked over at Clarke with a dare in her eyes before the two of us jumped.

Instinct had me hold my breath, but the coldness of the water made me want to shriek. It did, however, feel good on my throbbing wrist. Clarke's mom was a doctor, so maybe the blonde teen would know something about why mine was still hurting and the others didn't seem to be bothered. Maybe I was just a big wimp.

When I rose up above the water once again, I kept most of my body under. I could see the others looking at us with fear in their eyes.

"Seren! We can't swim!" Monty called out, I just rolled my eyes and flipped onto my back. I had seen in this in old movies and I had always wanted to try it. Floating on the calm waters was just as peaceful as it seemed in the movies.

"No, but we can stand," Octavia said as she did just that.

Clarke had said something about the river and how it wasn't supposed to be in this spot. I just rolled my eyes but didn't say anything. Her only map was a hundred years old. Geography can change in a matter of minutes. As the others started to strip down to join us, I simply floated back towards the rocks and started to climb back up. Just as I did, Jasper stepped forward, but his smile instantly dropped into a look of worry.

"Octavia, get out of the water!" he called out. Looking out at Octavia, I saw why Jasper was worried. Something was making its way towards Octavia. A second later, the... _thing_ struck and dragged Octavia under the water.

"No" I gasped. Without even thinking, I jumped back into the water, instantly the thing let go of my friend and went after me. Unlike Octavia, though, I was able to fight back a little better and I did all I could to kick the monster snake-fish thing. It didn't let go of my leg, but at least Octavia was safe. Oxygen was starting to become a problem as I struggled against the creature. I knew that I was a little ways away from my friends at this point and I was pretty sure that I was going to die.

I wasn't expecting to be let go. Frantically, I thrashed up to the surface and gasped for air. I could hear the guys calling for me, turning in the water I tried my best to get to where Finn and Monty were waiting for me. From what I could tell, they had found some way to distract the creature so that it would let go of me. It worked, obviously, but I didn't know for how long so I tried my best to wade towards the group.

"Seren, it's coming back!" Monty yelled out. "It's coming right for you."

When I finally made it onto the slab of rock next to Octavia and Jasper, I let out a shaky breath of relief. But it was short lived when I felt the hot pain in my leg. I wanted to touch the bite, to push my skin together in hopes of making the pain go away. But something in me knew that that would be a terrible idea.

"Octavia, are you okay?" I coughed. Instead of answering, Octavia whimpered and nodded her head as Clarke tied a piece of Jaspers t-shirt around Octavias' leg. When she turned to me, I just grunted in pain when she touched the skin around my own bite mark. "There's a-" I groaned. "Ugh, there's a sweatshirt lining my jacket," I told her. "Instead of ruining someone's shirt, use that." Clake just nodded before rushing off to where I had dropped my jacket.

"Note to self" Monty spoke after Clarke came back and tore into my hoodie. "Save the girl." Like the others, I couldn't help but laugh. Though as I did, I instantly started to tear up. That was the single most terrifying experience of my life.

* * *

 **W** e ended up making camp not too far away from the river. Deciding to leave at first light so that Octavia and I could rest. Using some of the plants from my bag, and some water, Monty made a paste to help bind the respective wounds on me and Octavia. And it _stung_. Once we all settled in for the night, we decided that going back to the river was too dangerous. Meaning we would have to find an alternative route back to Mount Weather.

Deciding to try and get some sleep, I couldn't help the smile when I saw Jasper and Octavia curled up together and already sleeping peacefully. Monty was laying close by them and was close to passing out. Even Clarke and Finn were sprawled out on the forest floor. With a sigh, I leaned up against the same tree as Jasper with my jacket serving as a blanket.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sound of shuffling feet. Blinking my eyes, I looked around and not only did I see both Clarke, followed by Finn, disappear behind a large tree; but the trees were _glowing_. It was absolutely beautiful and unlike anything I had ever seen. Granted, most things down here on earth were unlike anything I had ever seen. Still, though it was definitely breathtaking. With a stretch, I stood and started to limp towards where I had seen Clarke and Finn disappear.

"You call that a sip?" I heard Finn ask. Curious I picked up my pace as best as I could. Rounding the tree, I saw the two of them standing in front of a glowing moss covered stump and Clarke was drinking water out of a large leaf.

"Save some of that for me" I joked, causing the two of them to jump. Without a second thought, though, Clarke helped me stumble over to the stump and handed me the leaf. I had to hold back the moan as the water touched my tongue. Better than the water on the Ark by a mile.

"You think this means we're all gonna grow two heads?" Finn asked, causing both Clarke and I to laugh. "What do you know, Seren? She can laugh" he joked. "Come on, you guys have to see this" he added. Sharing a glance with Clarke, I simply shrugged while she held out an arm to help me walk. Slowly, we followed the long-haired boy until he crouched down and brushed aside some leaves. Groaning at the pain in my leg, I settled for sitting on the moss covered tree root across from Finn while Clarke crouched down beside him. "That's a toe," he told us, pointing to an imprint in the ground. Leaning forward, I saw the perfect footprint int he soil. "Plus, near as I can tell, whatever it is, it's walking on two feet. My guess... _monkeys_."

Clarke barely stifled a laugh at that. "I'm sorry," she told him. "It's just, according to everything I've ever read, there were no bipedal animals anywhere near here. Certainly not monkeys."

"You read anything about glow-in-the-dark forests or man-eating snakes?" Finn asked.

"He has a point," I told her. "A lot can change in a hundred years. It's not the world our ancestors left behind." Clarke opened her mouth to disagree, but then she realized that Finn and I weren't wrong.

* * *

 **E** arly the next morning, we all made our way back to the river. Apparently, Finn had an idea as to how we would cross without having to actually get in the water. The plan was to basically swing across on an apogee vine. Finn had even climbed up to where the long vine was fastened tight around the tree branches. He had even offered to go first, Jasper second. The rest of us would follow if it was safe.

"You wanted to go first" Clarke called out as we watched Finn pull on the apogee. "Now quit stalling. Mount Weather awaits."

"Just hang on to the apogee and you'll be fine," Jasper told the other boy.

"Apogee, like the Indians, right?" Finn asked.

"He said apogee, not Apache" I rolled my eyes.

"He knows" was Clarke response, sparing me a glance before turning back to where Finn and Jasper stood. "Today, Finn."

But just as Finn pulled back on the springy vine, I saw Jasper look over at where I stood with Octavia. "Wait," he said, causing Finn to stop. "Let me. I can do it."

A part of me was extremely proud of my best friend. But the other part was extremely terrified that he wouldn't make it across. In the end, I believed in Jasper, though, he could do this.

"Knew there was a badass in there somewhere," Finn said as he handed the apogee vine over to the goggle-headed boy. When Jasper paused and let out a nervous breath, Finn just patted him on the back. "It's okay to be afraid, Jasper. The trick is not fighting it."

With that, Jasper gripped the vine tight and looked down at us. "See you on the other side," he said. And then he swung clear across the river, all but crash landing on the opposite bank. "WE ARE APOGEE!" he yelled, causing the rest of us to cheer. He had made it and seemed to be unharmed.

Now that we knew that it was safe, Finn handed the vine over to Clarke. She was up next. Across the way, I saw Jasper pushed aside some leaves on the ground before holding up an old metal sign that was riddled with bullet holes. "We did it!" he called out, holding the sign high above his head. "Mount Weather!"

And then my world came crashing down around me. What looked like a spear came soaring out of nowhere and struck Jasper in the chest. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was scream _._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

 **T** he pain in my leg was long forgotten as I ran through the forest. We weren't alone in these woods and we needed to get as far away as possible. Back to the dropship where there was safety in numbers. However, at the moment I wasn't thinking about my safety or even the safety of my little group. All I could think about my best friend, my _brother_ , and how we had left him for dead. It took all I had not to drop to the ground and sob. And by 'all I had' I mean Monty's firm grip on my arm. Without each other, I'm that neither of us would handle Jaspers demise all that well.

But Monty's grip was a double-edged sword, when he tripped, I tripped with him. As I hit the ground, I gasped in pain. The adrenaline stopping me from feeling it completely but I knew that once it wore off, my leg would be killing me. And the wristband wasn't making matters any better.

"Seren, Monty, get up!" Octavia said as she pulled on Monty's arm. But the boy was frozen, and I could clearly see why. Surrounding us on the forest floor we old, dark and weathered bones. Full skeletons were torn apart.

"Who are they?" Finn breathed as he helped me stand.

" _What_ are they?" Clark responded as she picked up a skull. It was mutated into something not entirely human. Was that what humans looked like on earth now?

"We are so screwed," Octavia said. Sniffing back tears I just nodded in agreement. Suddenly, a distant scream sounded, causing us all to whip our heads back in the direction of the river

"Jasper" I squeaked. "H-He's alive." Before I could really react, Clarke took off running, the rest of us following after her. She had almost made it back to where we had last seen Jasper when Finn pulled on her arm and told her to stay out of the trees.

"H-He was right there" I sniffed, wiping my eyes.

"Where is he?" Monty asked from beside me, looking over the bank where Jasper had been speared.

"They took him" was all Clarke could say.

* * *

 **T** he walk back to the drop site was slower than we had wanted. With Octavia and I both hurt and our collective adrenaline wearing down, all we could manage was an almost brisk walk. None of us talked and it took all I had not to cry. Hopefully, we could figure out something with the others back at the dropship. Warn the rest of the delinquents and maybe try and get them to come back with us to go and get Jasper.

I felt kind of bad for Monty though because he had to hold up both me and Octavia as we walked. The pain was finally starting to get to us. Finn could have helped lessen Monty's load and taken Octavia, but he decided to glue himself to Clarke for the time being.

As we neared camp, I could hear the shouts. People chanting the word 'fight' over and over. I just _knew_ that Wells was involved somehow, a lot of people on the dropship blamed him for the crimes of his father. Instantly Clarke and Finn picked up their pace while the rest of us just did our best to keep up. "Just take Octavia" I huffed, letting go of Monty. "Get her back to camp and see what's going on," I told him. Octavia tried to argue, but I just shook my head and all but dropped to the ground. "I'm just gonna sit and rest for a bit, I'll catch up," I told her.

Monty knew better than to argue with me, so instead, he just nodded and turned Octavia back towards their destination. There were a few people wandering nearby, but they didn't pay me any mind as I leaned my back up against a mossy tree. I didn't let myself rest for too long, letting out a shudder of breath I stumbled my way down the small incline. If it weren't for Monty catching me, I probably would have broken something.

"Seren, are you okay?' Octavia sniffed when I dropped to the dirt once again, only this time I reached into the burlap sack I was carrying in my white-knuckled fist.

"Mmm-hmm" I muttered with a wince. "Here, O, munch on some these," I told her, hand over a couple of black-ish colored berries. "Elderberry. I should make them into a tea, but we have no time for that" I added, giving the girl a sad smile when she winced at the taste. "Yea, they're kinda nasty, but they work. If I get my way, I'll find some opium poppy" I winked.

"Where's the food?" Bellamy finally asked, sparing me a glance.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather" Finn sighed as he sat down on a tree root.

"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy demanded, looking down at his sister before glancing over at me.

"We were attacked" Clarke spoke up.

I was fully expecting Bellamy to speak again, but instead, it was Wells. "Attacked? By what?" Jaha Jr asked.

"Not what, _who_ " Finn spoke. "It turns out," he continued. "when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last grounder."

"It's true" Clarke confirmed as Octavia and I exchanged glances. "Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong" she went on to say. "There are people here, the good news is, that means _we_ can survive. Radiation _won't_ kill us" Clarke told the delinquents who surrounded us.

"Bad news is the grounders will" I groaned as I moved my leg a little bit.

"Where's the kid with the goggles?" asked Wells, looking around for Jasper.

My breath hitched sharply and I snapped my eyes shut. I didn't need to see to know that Monty was the one gripping my shoulder in comfort. When Clarke told the group that Jasper was hit and that the grounders took him, I couldn't help the wince. And really I didn't care what the rest of the 100 thought of my reaction, Jasper Jordan was one of my best friends, he was my family. Anyone who had a problem with that was getting kicked in the shin.

I didn't listen to whatever Clarke was talking to Wells about. Something to do with his wristband being taken off. Courtesy of Bellamy and his guys. Twenty-four or more delinquents were liberated from the Ark's surveillance. Looking at my own wristband, I wonder if I could get mine off. Without having to go anywhere near Bellamy's guys.

"You idiots" Clarke breathed. "Life support on the Ark is _failing_ " she came clean, making sure the teens could all hear her. "That's why they brought us down here. They need to know if the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!"

With a grunt I lifted myself to my feet, Octavia helping me up most of the way even though it caused her to wobble a little bit. "They're stronger than you think, Clarke," I told her. "And you can't blame _children_ for wanting to give a big fuck you to the people who imprisoned them." Clarke didn't say anything, she just looked at me as if she had been slapped. "Just because you knew the big bad secret, doesn't mean you can look down on kids who didn't."

"Don't listen to Clarke" Bellamy called out, taking the attention from the former prisoners. "She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same?" he paused when there was a slight murmur in the crowd. "We can take care of our selves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes" Bellamy continued. "I say you not criminals!"

I had to say, the longer Bellamy's speech went on, the more I believed it. He wasn't wrong. Sure some of the people here were dangerous, some were more guilty than others. But some of them were like Octavia, or like me and Monty for that matter.

As the crowd around us cheered for Bellamy, Clarke walked away with a light scoff. Giving me a look, Monty went after her. I really hoped he was talking to her about going back for Jasper. Bum leg or not, I wasn't missing out on that rescue mission.

As everything started to calm down, Bellamy came over to where Octavia and I stood. "Come on, let's get you two back to the dropship" he sighed, swinging an arm around his sisters' shoulders before looking at me. "I don't bite," he told me, holding out his other arm for me.

"Be better if you did" I mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

We walked in silence after that. Mentally I was preparing myself for the job I needed to do. Finding Jasper was top priority, I was bringing him home one way or another.

* * *

 **"W** hat the hell was it?" Bellamy asked as he cleaned up the scratch on Octavia's leg.

"I don't know" the girl shrugged, wincing a little

"It kinda looked like a snake," I told him as I finished ripping out the lining of my jacket. Bellamy had, thankfully, given me a knife and I was able to quickly take my burlap sack and turned it into a shoulder bag. "Maybe some kind of snake-fish mutation?" I suggested.

"You could have been killed," Bellamy told her.

The concern that was held in his dark eyes slowly dissipating when we heard Clarke's voice. "She would have been if Jasper didn't jump in to pull her out."

"You guys leaving?" Octavia asked. "I'm coming too"

"No, no. No way" Bellamy denied, stopping his sister from standing. "Not again."

"He's right" Clarke agreed. "Your leg's just gonna slow us down. Seren, that goes for you too" she added. "I'm here for you," she said to Bellamy.

"Clarke what are you doing?"

Clarke simply ignored Wells, "I hear you have a gun." Without saying a word, Bellamy lifted his shirt to reveal the butt of the gun in his waistband. "Good. Follow me."

"And why would I do that?" he asked.

"Because you want them to follow you," Clarke replied. "And right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared."

"Murphy" Bellamy finally spoke. "Come with me. Atom? My sister and Seren don't leave this camp. Is that clear?"

The boy in question simply stepped forward with a nod. "I don't need a babysitter" Octavia scoffed.

As she did, I rolled my eyes. "You're not the boss of me," I told him. "I don't even _know_ you" I added. But Bellamy simply ignored me and turned back to Atom, stating that nobody was to touch Octavia or feel his wrath. With a huff, I tossed my bag of plants and berries back down at my feet. Octavia tried to go after her brother but was stopped by the dark haired boy left to guard her. I couldn't help but chuckle when Octavia promised that we would make his life hell until Bellamy got back. Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me away.

* * *

 **O** ctavia and I didn't stick together for long. While she decided to bask in the male attention, I avoided Bellamy's guys at all costs. I had no issues with Bellamy, it was just his followers that gave me the heebie-jeebies. And honestly, I seemed to be on Bellamy's good side for the moment and I don't think he'd be okay with his baby sister being flirty with a bunch of criminals who were locked up for who-knows-what. So instead, I limped around camp trying to find Monty. After asking some of the other delinquents, I made my way into the dropship.

Up on the second level, Monty was hard at work. Doing what, I had no idea. Some kind of engineering thing. He didn't even notice me coming up until I cleared my throat. "Hey Monty" I smiled when he turned around.

"Seren!" His eyes widened a fraction before rushing over to help me up, my leg was still kind of stiff. Honestly, I was a little surprised that I was able to climb the ladder. "How are you feeling?" he asked, helping me settle against one of the remaining seats. While we were gone, the rest of the 100 had decided to pull a lot of them out.

I simply shrugged. "My leg doesn't hurt as much," I told him. "This stupid thing hurts more than anything," I told him, holding up my right arm and showing him my wristband. "Does yours?" I asked, but Monty just shook his head and looked down at his own wristband. "Monty," I said I started after a few beats of silence, my voice as quiet as ever. "Do you think they'll find him?"

"Yea," Monty said with a shaky breath. "Yea, Seren, I do. And Jasper will be _just fine_."

The two of us lapsed into silence after that. Just soaking in each others presence and drawing strength from our friendship. Without Jasper, all we had down here was each other. Though we were fastly making friends with Octavia, Finn, and Clarke. With a quick squeeze of my shoulder, Monty stood and went back to his project. I didn't bother to ask, I probably wouldn't have understood what he was talking about if I did. Instead, I dug into my bag and looked for the folded leaf of paste I had made for the scratched on my leg. I had put some on Octavias and now I needed to put some on mine. Since I wasn't planning on walking for a while.

What I needed more than anything was a nap. I hadn't slept much last night, and with the days' excitement, I was dead tired. So, digging into my bag once again, I pulled out some chamomille petals and started to nibble on them. Maybe after my nap, I would get started on making teas so that we didn't have to eat the flowers just to get some relief.

It took a little while for the chamomile to do its magic. But when it did, I was peacefully dozing off to the sounds of my best friends tinkering.

* * *

 **M** y nap was a short-lived one. I barely had time to dream when I was being woken up by Octavia's shouting. Atom had finally had enough of her attitude and locked her up here. "This is nothing" I heard the girl tell herself.

"Mind keeping it down?" Monty asked clearing his throat. "Seren's asleep and I'm trying to concentrate."

"What are you doing?" Octavia asked, walking over to where Monty sat as quietly as she could.

"Trying to find a way to contact the Ark using the wristbands. but" Monty stopped with a sigh and I could hear something hit the floor. "Nothings working."

"Can I help?" she asked. They were silent for a few more minutes and I was going to try and sleep some more. However, that hope was short lived when Octavia spoke again. "You three are pretty close, huh?" she asked and even though my eyes were closed, I could tell that the two of them were looking at me.

"Yea," Monty said. "They may not be my actual brother and sister," he grunted. "But the two of them have always been there. Every memory I have, there's Jasper and Seren." As Monty spoke, I had to fight the smile. He was right, of course, the three of us had always been attached at the hip. "I should be out there."

"You're not going to cry are you?" I finally spoke, startling my friends. "Cuz if you are I'll make fun of you for at least a week."

"Shut up, Seren" Monty scoffed as Octavia giggled. Opening my eyes, I saw the two of them sitting not too far away from me and Monty seemed to be picking at Octavia's wristband. "You sure about this?" Monty asked, turning back to Octavia. "Your brother won't approve of you helping us contact the Ark."

"He's not my keeper," the brunette said with a sigh. "Let's just do this. Let's do it" she said. With that, Monty dropped the piece of metal he had been using as a screwdriver and started looking around for something he could use to pry off Octavia's wristband.

When he came up short, I reached into the pocket of my jacket and handed him the knife that Bellamy had given me earlier. "I don't care about contacting the Ark," I told him, placing the crude object into his hand. "I just want this stupid thing off." Monty simply nodded and set to work on Octavia's wristband. I couldn't help the wince as Octavia grunted in pain. Once she was free of the wristband, the three of us watched as the electricity held for a moment before dying out.

"Dead" Monty sighed in frustration.

"If we can't even take them off, how do you expect to turn it into a radio?" Octavia asked. Monty went to answer but was stopped when the hatched door clanged open. Apparently Octavia's 'timeout' was over.

"Go on" Monty rolled his eyes playfully. "I'll be fine" he added. "Work to do."

With a smile, Octavia stood and ruffled his hair. "Hey, Monty?" she spoke "Jasper would understand why you stayed" she smiled.

"How is someone raised beneath the floor, not a total basket case?" Monty asked playfully, causing Octavia to scoff.

"Who says I'm not?" And with that, she disappeared down the hatch.

Monty and I sat in silence for a few moments. "So" I finally spoke. "Wanna get this hunk of junk out of my arm?"

* * *

 **M** onty kicked me out of the dropship not too long after he popped off my wristband. Since I was feeling little to no pain, I all but skipped through the trees surrounding the camp. But there was really nothing to be found in the immediate area. Quietly, I debated whether I should venture a little further or not. But after what had happened with Jasper, and the river-monster that attacked me and Octavia, I didn't think it would be worth the risk. So instead I wandered back to camp where some of the other delinquents had started a small fire and had even made crude cups. I didn't have much in my bag, definitely not enough to satiate 90-something teenagers.

I really hoped Clarke and the others came back with some kind of food.

For the rest of the day, I barely talked to my fellow 'campers'. I had tried looking for Octavia, but I couldn't find her or her bodyguard anywhere. Normally I would have been worried, but I knew that Atom wouldn't want to cross Bellamy. So after I gave up looking for my friend, I sat and pulled out the knife the eldest Blake had given me, along with a pretty good sized stick. Obviously, I had never had the need to whittle anything before in my life. But on the off chance Monty or I... or _Jasper_ found something, well, I wanted to be prepared.

So there I sat, trying to carve a smoking pipe out of a stick until the sun had set and the delinquents settled down for the night. Octavia had even reappeared, all but glued to Atom's side as we sat around the fire.

Suddenly, one of the boys on watch called out. Alerting us that Clarke's group had returned. Instantly I dropped my, now small, stick and looked around, my heart pounding in my chest. Did they find Jasper? Was he alive? Did anyone else get hurt?

"There," Octavia pointed as the two of us stood.

Clarke was leading the way, followed by Finn and Wells. And _they_ were carrying Jasper. Instantly I ran over to them as they brought him over to the dropship, tears burning behind my eyes.

"Is he..." I started, looking at Monty who had come out to join us.

"He's alive," Clarke told us before her voice took on an authoritative tone. "I need boiled water and strips of cloth for a bandage." Nodding I ran back over to the fire and grabbed the forked branch we had been using to boil water for tea, along with one of the larger cups.

I barely registered Bellamy and Murphy dragging a tarp over to the fire. Jumping when I saw the carcass of a dead feline-like creature. Smiling as I heated the water for Clarke, I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I had already put bits of cloth in their earlier, foreseeing possible injury around camp and wanting to be prepared.

"Who's hungry!"


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

it's been about two days since Bellamy and the others had brought home Jasper. And in the two days, I barely left the dropship. Leaving only to forage and only when Clarke all but forced me too. She hadn't been too happy to see that Monty, Octavia and I were missing our wristbands. Or that Bellamy had traded the meat from the mutated panther for wristbands.

Every time Jasper cried out in pain, my heart broke all the more. All I could do was hold his hand and offer what little comfort I could. But not everyone was as understanding. From below us, I could hear everyone complaining, telling Jasper to be quiet or to go back to sleep. Did they not understand how much pain Jasper was in?

"Don't listen to them, Jas, okay?" I told him, giving his hand a squeeze. "You're gonna be just fine, kay?" My grip only tightened when someone from downstairs suggested that Jasper could just hurry up and die.

"I'm gonna get clean water," Clarke told us as she grabbed her bag and stood. "You guys keep an eye on him." I only nodded as Monty came to sit in her spot.

"If they don't stop talking shit, I'm gonna lose it," I told Monty.

"You couldn't hurt a fly, Seren, and we all know it" he laughed weakly.

"Maybe not" I chuckled. "But if I finally snap, at least you'll know why," I told him, wiping some of the sweat and dirt from Jasper's brow.

We lapsed into silence after that. Thankfully, the people on the first floor stopped complaining as loudly. But I could still hear hushed whispers floating up to us through the hatch. Ignoring them, I spoke mostly to Jasper, assuring him that as soon as he felt better, I was gonna find him a crop and the three of us was going to smoke until we couldn't move. I knew that there _had_ to be wild pot plants around here, I just had to _find_ them.

* * *

Morning came sooner than I had expected. The entire night I had taken vigil, watching over Jasper until I could hear the faint sound of birds just outside of the dropship. Clarke had come and gone throughout the night, checking on Jasper and catching a little bit of sleep herself. Once again, a few hours after sunrise, the blonde had kicked me out of the upper level.

Everyone was mulling about camp, minding their own business. Over at the out edges, I could see Murphy and Bellamy throwing knives at a tree. I had to hold back a laugh when Murphy's improvised knife bounced off fo the tree.

"We searched a half-mile _all_ directions" I heard Atom speak. "No sign of Trina or Pascal." I recognized the names, but barely. No one has seen them in a day or two. Slowly, I made my way towards the small cluster. If they were going to go looking for the couple again when I was going too, I needed to keep busy.

"Visit your special tree while you were out there?" Murphy taunted as he walked passed the other boy to get his knife.

"Atom took his punishment. Let it go" Bellamy spoke. A part of me wanted to know what he was talking about, but the other didn't want to get involved.

"Could be grounders" Atom redirected the conversation.

"Yea," Murphy drawled. "Or they could be in pound town. Lot of _that_ going around recently" he said.

Seeing Octavia, I walked over and gave the girl a hug while she cleaned off her hands. "Any idea what they're talking about?" she asked me.

"Weird boy drama?" I suggested with a shrug. When Octavia sent a smile over to Atom, and he all but blew her off. I had a feeling as to what had happened, what Bellamy meant by 'punishment.' "I don't know, I think they might be heading back out to look for Trina and Pascal. I'll let you know." And with that I walked over to where the boys stood, standing near the incline and leaning against the same tree that Bellamy and Murphy had been using for target practice.

"Morale will go up when I find them food" Bellamy told the guys, sparing me a glance. I simply grinned and waggled my fingers at him. Over the last few days, I had learned that teasing Bellamy Blake was really fun.

"What do we say when they ask about Trina and Pascal?" Mbege asked. Kinda funny how the two creepiest d-bags in the entire camp had the initials of J.M. and they were best friends.

"Now? Nothing. It's possible they're just lost." Bellamy shrugged. I agreed with him, why make it a problem when it wasn't? It would be easy for anyone of us to get lost around here, not _every_ thing had to do with the grounders. "We'll keep an eye out for them when we go out hunting."

"I'm coming with you," I told Bellamy. Thankfully the other guys didn't make any snide remarks. I was barely holding it all in right now, and if either of the Johns said anything I would have snapped.

"No you're not" Bellamy shook his head, giving me that look that said he meant business.

Good thing it didn't work on me. "Too bad you're not the boss of me" I grinned, folding my arms over my chest.

"Fine" he relented. "But you stay with me at all times."

"Yes'sir" I rolled my eyes. "If we're lucky I can find some indica and you can calm the fuck down." Bellamy simply shook his head and let out a scoff of a laugh. "See you boys in a bit" I added before heading back to the dropship to check on Jasper one last time.

* * *

Things weren't any better upstairs. According to Clarke, the grounders had cauterized Jaspers chest, saving his life. But it was still infected, and Jasper had gone sceptic. When she said that, Monty instantly stopped what he was doing and looked over to where Clarke was sitting with Jasper.

"Any progress on using the wristbands to contact the Ark?" the blonde asked, just as Wells came up the ladder. " _Monty!"_ she continued when my best friend didn't answer right away.

"That would be a firm _no_ " Monty sighed in aggravation. I was silent, even as Clarke snapped at the boy who was supposed to be _her_ best friend. I understood that she was stressed and _way_ out of her league right now, but Wells was just trying to help. Clarke had her reasons for having issues with Wells, I got that. But right now we needed to work on Jasper. When I said as much, Clarke just sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"You want to help? Hold him down" she ordered. Without asking questions, both Finn and Wells held onto the Jaspers legs, holding him in place while Clarke grabbed a knife.

"We're not gonna like this, are we?" Monty asked as soon as my face blanched. I had a feeling as to what Clarke was going to do, and my stomach turned at the thought.

"I-I'm gonna go outside" I stammered before standing on uneasy feet and climbing down the ladder.

I saw Octavia and Atom down on the first level, but I didn't stop to say hi. Keeping my head down, I all but ran out of the door we had made out of a parachute. It wasn't even a minute later when Octavia came running passed me and into the large tent Bellamy had set up. Curious, I followed after her. I didn't even make it to the tent when I heard Octavia's voice. "Next time you go on a power trip, leave me out of it."

It was Jaspers scream that had me stop. And once again, Octavia was rushing passed me. Only this time it was to check on our friend. Bellamy was right behind her, he gave me a questioning look, silently asking me if I was going to follow them to the second level of the dropship. But I just shook my head. I knew what was happening up there, and just _hearing_ it was bad enough.

* * *

We left camp not too long later. True to my word, I stuck close to Bellamy while the others spread out. Utilizing the things we had learned in our Earth Skills classes up on the Ark, we easily found the tracks of what I assumed was a pig. Boar more than likely. Briefly, I wondered if the pig would be mutated like the deer or the panther, but I quickly pushed that thought aside. Mutated was better than nothing at all. It was even better than the soy cubes they passed off as food on the Ark.

We finally convened when we caught up to the hog and I held my breath. Everything that I had ever read about these things said that they would and could charge at a moments notice. Instantly Bellamy hushed the boys to his left, stating that the kill was his. Rolling my eyes, I swung out my hand in the universal 'by-all-means' gesture.

Only, just as he was about to throw his ax, the sound of a branch snapping came from behind. On instinct, Bellamy whipped around and sent the ax flying into a tree. Less than an arm's length away from a little blonde girl. The noise also caused the hog to scamper away, so the guys Bellamy had brought with us started after it with whoops and yells.

"Son of a _bitch_ " I hissed as Bellamy and I walked over to the little girl.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, clearly shocked that he had almost killed the kid. If his ax had hit just a little to the right...

"Charlotte" she answered.

"I almost killed you" Bellamy all but snapped, yanking his self-made ax from the tree.

"Why aren't you back at camp, kid?" I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

"Well, what with that guy who was dying" she stammered, instantly my expression dropped into a glare. "I just... I couldn't listen anymore." Charlotte had the common sense to not hold my gaze. It wasn't unknown in the camp that Jasper and Monty were my best friends.

"There's grounders out here" Atom spoke. "It's too dangerous for a little girl."

"I'm _not_ a little girl" Charlotte denied.

I couldn't help but agree. Yea there were grounders out here in the woods. Yea we had inexperienced, 'trigger-happy', hunters. And yea, Charlotte was still just a kid. But on the ground, anything could happen, and it wouldn't be a bad thing for her to learn how to defend herself.

"OK, then..." Bellamy agreed with a smile. "But you can't hunt without a weapon," he told her before pulling out his spare knife. "Ever killed something before?" he asked her, but the girl simply shook her head. "Who knows? Maybe you're good at it."

"It's okay," I told her, finally dropping the almost-glare. "I've never killed anything before either. I'm sure we could figure it out."

* * *

I don't know how long we were wandering around the woods for. But the hog was long gone and there was no way we would find it again. So, since Charlotte didn't make it to her mandatory Earth Skills classes, Bellamy and I did what we could to teach her what we knew. Though Bellamy told her about hunting and weapons and tracking, I told her about plants. Which ones were edible, and which ones were poison, she had even picked a few medicinal herbs for herself.

Charlotte didn't even need to be told to stick with us, she just _did_. Which was good.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked when she saw me carve my initials into a nearby tree trunk.

"Well, the way I see it, anything could get rid of our footprints between now and when we decide to head back. So, just in case, I'm leaving a trail. Kinda like that old story."

"Smart" Bellamy nodded.

"I'm more than a pretty face, Bellamy Blake" I joked as I made note of a set of caves not too far away. We walked in silence for a little while longer before a strong and familiar scent reached my nose. "Oh, no way" I whispered before turning to Bellamy. "I'm gonna go ahead a little," I told him. "I think there are some plants around here that will _definitely_ help at camp."

"That indica you were telling me about?" he asked, giving me a knowing smile. "Go on just try to stay within shouting distance, ok?"

"You got it, bossman" I winked before I all but skipped through the underbrush.

Finding the plants was actually pretty easy. And as I started clipping the 'flowers', I made a mental note to come back and grab one of the younger plants so that I could re-plant them closer to camp. Once I had a fair amount, I started back towards Bellamy and Charlotte. As soon as I saw him, I opened my mouth for a playful comment but was stopped short by the sound of a horn blowing through the trees. Followed almost instantly by a wicked looking yellow fog.

In the distance, I could hear some of the guys that Bellamy had brought on the hunt screaming in pain. The fog was fast moving and was coming for us quickly. Instantly, we took off back towards camp, hoping to outrun the mist.

"Come on!" Bellamy called out, as the two of us took Charlotte's hand. "There are caves this way."

It didn't take us long to reach the caves I had noticed before. Quickly, Charlotte entered first and just as Bellamy pushed me inside, I heard Atom call his name. Bellamy wanted to go after the guy but was stopped by the thick fog. Grabbing hold of Bellamy's sleeve, I pulled him into the cave with me and Charlotte.

* * *

For the next few hours or so, we sat in silence. Charlotte taking up the space between Bellamy and me, though she had quickly fallen asleep.

"You know" I sighed, moving closer to Bellamy so that I didn't wake up Charlotte. "It's always been me, Monty and Jas. Every memory I have, there's my guys. I know that it's not like how it is with you and Octavia, but...it's the closest I got." I told him.

"Yea, I can see that" Bellamy tried, and failed, to fight off a playful smirk. "I'm glad she has you" he added.

"Honestly, I don't know how we even became friends" I chuckled, tilting my head back so that it was resting on the cool stone wall of the cave. "All I did before that first day was help her in the forced Earth Skills classes they gave us before the drop."

"Still though..." I felt Bellamy's shoulder brush mine as he shrugged. "She needed a friend, a _real_ friend."

"I think I needed it too" I shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I'd go to hell for my boys, but like I said...it's _always_ been us." We were quiet for a few beats, just soaking in the heat that was being generated by the three bodies in the cave. "Is that why you've been less of a dick towards me these last few days? Cuz I'm friends with Octavia?"

"Not really" Bellamy chuckled. "That was how it's started, but it's not like that anymore" he shook his head.

"Hmmm good to know" I sighed thoughtfully as I closed my eyes and shifted my body so that I was resting against his shoulder. "I'm using you as a pillow and you have no choice in the matter," I told him, barely fighting off a yawn.

Bellamy simply chuckled before shifting so that my head was on his chest instead. "Get some sleep, Seren."

* * *

I don't even think I was sleeping for a full twenty minutes before I was being woken up. At some point in the night, Bellamy and I had laid down, and when Charlotte screamed the two of us jolted upwards.

The poor girl seemed to be having a nightmare. "Charlotte, wake up," Bellamy told her, sleep leaving his voice little by little.

"I'm sorry" the girl whimpered.

"Don't be" I yawned. "Does it happen often?" I asked her, leaning forward so that I could see her better. But Charlotte simply sighed, not making eye contact with either of us.

"What are you scared of?" Bellamy asked her softly. "You know what. It doesn't matter" he continued when the little girl didn't answer. "The only thing that matters is what you do about it."

I understood what Bellamy was getting at, however, Charlotte didn't. "But...I'm asleep," she said.

"Fears are fears" Bellamy shrugged. "Slay your demons when you're awake, they won't be there to get you when you sleep."

"Yeah, but... _how_?"

"You can't afford to be weak," he said.

Before Bellamy could continue, I finally spoke up. "He's right. Down here's different, it's not like the Ark. Weakness could mean death, _fear_ could mean death" I added.

No one spoke for a few moments, with a yawn, I leaned against Bellamy once again. He may not have been my favorite person. And I was fairly certain that he had threatened Jaspers life before we went on our hunting trip. But right now...I was seeing the guy I assumed Bellamy was before the drop. _This_ Bellamy was Octavia's big brother, not an uncaring jackass. I'm sure Clarke and the others wouldn't agree.

"Let me see that knife I gave you," Bellamy told her. Doing as he said, Charlotte pulled out the small knife she had been given earlier and handed it to Bellamy. "Now, when you feel afraid, you hold tight to that knife and you say, 'screw you, I'm not afraid.'" With that, he handed the blade back to the girl. Quietly, Charlotte repeated the words. Then again with more conviction. "Slay your demons, kid" Bellamy stated, moving so that we could lay back down. "Then you'll be able to sleep."

* * *

The next time I woke up, I was alone on the stone floor. Charlotte was still asleep, and Bellamy must have gone to see if that weird fog was gone.

"Bellamy?" I called out, my voice riddled with sleep. Rubbing my eyes, I turned and saw daylight peeking through the mouth of the cave. A moment later, Bellamy came back and side and nodded. "Come on, Charlotte," I said, shaking the girl awake. "Time to get up."

It took her a minute, but sure enough, Charlotte's eyes flickered open. Slowly the three of us made our way out of the cave. "Anybody out here?" Bellamy called out. "Jones!" In the distance, we could hear Jones respond.

As it turns out, the others had the same idea as Bellamy, ride out the weird fog in one of the caves. "What the hell was that?" Jones asked.

"I don't know" Bellamy shrugged before realizing that someone was missing. "Where's Atom?" he asked.

Slowly we moved through the area, both on the lookout for Atom and for the marks I had made in the trees. I should have been keeping a closer eye on Charlotte because the next thing I knew, her scream was piercing the silence of the forest. "Shit" I cursed before taking off in her general direction with Bellamy right behind me.

It wasn't until we caught up with the little girl that my stomach turned. Sure enough, Atom was laying on the forest floor, covered in burns and pus-filled soars. This must be the effect of the fog, it was poisonous. Almost like acid.

"Son of a bitch. Atom" Bellamy cursed as he went over to where the boy lay. I stayed behind, trying to get Charlotte to avert her gaze. Not that it was working. From where I stood, I could tell that Atom was trying to tell Bellamy something, but I was too far away to make out what it was. Not even a minute later, we were joined by the rest of our hunting party. As soon as Charlotte started moving forwards, I tried to grab her hand and stop her. But my grip wasn't strong enough and she simply shook me off.

It was when Charlotte handed Bellamy her knife that I realized what Atom had been saying. He was begging for death. After a moment, Bellamy looked to the rest of us. "Go back to camp," he said. Instantly the other three teens did as Bellamy said and started back towards camp, I bit my lip and watched them go before turning back towards Bellamy and Charlotte. "Seren, take Charlotte with you."

Charlotte wanted to argue, I could tell. So instead, I walked over to her and grabbed her much smaller hand in mine. "Come on, Charlotte," I said softly. "We can wait for Bellamy right over there. You don't need to see this" I added. Slowly, Charlotte nodded and started to turn away from the scene.

I didn't know Bellamy Blake all that well. But I knew that he would have a hard time with this. Anyone would. So before I started to lead Charlotte away, I simply squeezed his shoulder, hoping that a little moral support would go a long way. He wasn't murdering Atom, he was _saving_ him. Putting the boy out of his misery, taking away his suffering.

The next thing I knew, Clarke was there. Giving her a nod, I turned and walked with Charlotte just beyond the trees to wait for Bellamy. If my eyes weren't closed to fight off the tears, then I would have noticed the little girl watching the whole time.

* * *

The walk back to camp was done with a solemn silence. By the time we made it, the fires were already going and the delinquents were putting up a type of fence, or wall around the camp. Silently, while Clarke told Finn to get her hot water for Jaspers medicine, I walked with my head down to the dropship. I barely heard Bellamy tell one of his lackeys to get Clarke whatever she needed.

But when Octavia came out of our shelter, I stopped short. I opened my mouth but no words came out. They had been in a weird place, because of Bellamy, but Octavia really liked Atom. This would absolutely crush her. Clarke had tried to stop her...but it was too late, she had seen the other bring in Atom's covered body. Wiping away some stray tears, I watched as Octavia pulled Atom's jacket away from his face.

"There's nothing I could do" Bellamy tried telling her, but Octavia would hear nothing of it. Snapping at her brother before rushing away with tears in her eyes. With that, I walked back into the dropship to see how my best friends were doing.

When I made it up to the second level, I wasn't surprised to hear Jasper still letting out small groans of pain. Monty was sitting vigil, keeping a watchful eye on the hatch. I've known him long enough to know that he was on the defensive. Something had happened while I had been trapped in the cave with Bellamy and Charlotte.

"Murphy tried to kill Jasper" Monty told me the second he saw that it was me and not a would-be assassin.

"I think I found some oleander near here, I could totally poison him," I said with no hesitation.

Thankfully I got a small chuckle from my best friend. "Yea, but everyone would know it was you," he told me. "You hate Murphy and you know more about plants than anyone here."

"Yea your probably right" I nodded as we both sat beside our sick friend and waited for Clarke. Thankfully Clarke, Finn, and Octavia all came upstairs no too long after that with seaweed tea. "Hey Jas" I whispered when he started to resist Clarke, even though he was mostly unconscious. "I found something really awesome today and I won't share if you don't drink your tea," I told him, taking his hand in my right hand while I wiped a stray tear with my left. Thankfully, Jasper took my bribe and drank down the hot tea.

"I'm really sorry about Atom" Clarke spoke, looking at Octavia. I really wanted to hit her, now was _not_ the time. Even though I didn't know her all that well, I could tell that Octavia Blake was more likely to lash out when she was hurting. And she was hurting really bad right now.

"I guess we're gonna have to get used to people dying down here, aren't we?" Octavia asked before leaning over Jasper. "But not you. You hear me?" she whispered. "Seren even got you a good present for when you feel better" she added, sending me a watery smile.

"So you're not allowed to die," I told him, squeezing his hand once more.

Clarke left us to go find Wells a little while later. So, the four of us left Jasper to rest and went over to the other side of the second level. And when Finn pulled a dusty bottle from his pocket, my eyes lit up for the first time all night. I had been chewing on some stems from the pot plants, but the hundred-year-old booze was definitely what I really needed right now.

"Smooth" Monty coughed, taking another small swig before handing the bottle to me.

"Smoother than anything you've made," I told him, I took a long draw from the bottle and handed it over to Octavia with a cough.

"Disgusting" she swallowed with a grimace. "I love it" she added before handing it back to Finn.

"Can I, uh, get a hit of that?"

And I swear my heart all but stopped as my mouth nearly hit the floor.

"Jasper!" I squeaked as we all rushed over to his side.

"Let's start with the soft stuff," Finn told him with a smile as he grabbed a sealed bag we've been using as a water bottle. "Welcome back, buddy."

"Was that a dream or did I get speared?" Japer asked.

It was then that Clarke finally joined us. "You'll have a very impressive scar to prove it," she told him with a smile.

"My savior!" Jas called out playfully, causing me to giggle just a little through my (very happy) tears.

"Thank you for not dying," the blonde told him. "I don't think I could have taken that today" she added. I knew, of course, what Clarke had done in the woods. And I think that if Jasper _had_ died, then I think that would have broken her just as much as the rest of us.

"I'll try not to die tomorrow, too, if that's cool" he joked as Octavia took his hand. "Oh, hello" he smiled, causing all of us to chuckle. "I didn't dream that Seren found plants, right?" he asked.

"No, buddy" I smiled. "No, I really did find a huge crop and brought some back just for you."

It was then that Jasper fell back asleep. By morning, hopefully, he would be able to sit up and talk with us. But for now, his being even just a little bit better was enough.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

Someone had killed Wells. It had to of happened some time after Jasper had woken up. The last time any of us had seen him alive was when he was taking guard duty. Miller had found the body when he went to take his shift. The going theory was that the grounders had killed Wells. And it made sense. They had already speared Jasper, why wouldn't they kill Wells.

It's been about a week since then. We had put Wells in the ground shortly after finding the body. Almost instantly we had started on a _real_ wall around our camp. I felt bad for Clarke though, he was her best friend and the grounders had taken him from her. If that had happened to Monty, or if Jas hadn't survived the spear to the chest... I honestly couldn't even say what I would have done.

When Clarke came to the dropship, wanting to take off her wristband I had a feeling that something was up. She had been pretty adamant about keeping it on. When Finn told me what had happened with Clarkes mom, and that she was the reason Jake Griffin was floated, I realized that Clarke helping Monty with communications was just a part of it. She also wanted to give a big F-U to her mother back on the Ark.

Couldn't say I blamed her.

"My mother thinking I'm dead is only temporary," Clarke told Finn when he called her out on wanting to punish the Doctor.

"Not if I can't patch it through the dropship mainframe" Monty spoke, looking over to him from where I sat I saw my friend peering into the hole in the dropship wall. Sensing our collective worry, he looked over at us with a nod. "I can do it" he told us. "We'll be talking to the Ark by nightfall."And with that he was back to work.

Needing some fresh air, I sent a small wave to Monty before walking out of the dropship. Outside, everyone was working, doing everything that they could to get the wall up as soon as possible. Some of the delinquents were also making weapons out of scrap metal from the dropship, even Charlotte was helping out.

"This section should be finished by tomorrow" I heard Murphy tell Bellamy. Looking around, I saw the two of them overseeing the walls progress; And I couldn't help but roll my eyes. It wouldn't kill them to actually _do_ something. Just then one of the guys carrying a log across camp fell to the ground.

Instantly, I went over to him. "Are you okay, Connor?" I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Before he could answer though, Murphy sauntered over to us. "You think the grounders are just gonna sit around and wait for us to finish the wall?" he asked. "Maybe we should let the little girl do the lifting for you, huh?" the rat-faced boy suggested, motioning to Charlotte who was wrapping wire around some wood nearby. It was that moment, that Bellamy decided to finally step in.

"I just need some water, ok?" Connor told the other boy. "Then I'll be fine."

"Everyone's been working around the clock with no breaks" I told Bellamy.

With a nod, the self-proclaimed leader looked to his second-in-command. "Murphy, get this guy some water," he said before addressing Charlotte. "Hey, you got this?" he asked, pointing to the very large log that Connor had been carrying. As Charlotte stopped what she was doing, I looked up at Bellamy. He wasn't serious, that much was obvious by the playful glint in his dark eyes. "I'm just kidding" he laughed, stopping the young girl the second she laid a hand on the log.

With ease, Bellamy lifted Connors end of the log and helped carry it away. Chuckling, I faced Charlotte. "C'mon, Charlotte, let's get this done" I told her, motioning to the project she was working on. Murphy was back then, only he didn't have any water for Connor. Instead, the rat-faced criminal was unzipping his pants. "Ew" I squeaked before turning away and slapping my hand over Charlotte's eyes.

"Ugh! What the hell is wrong with you, Murphy!" Connor shouted when he realizing that the psycho was literally pissing on him.

"You wanted a _water break_ " smirked the creep with a shrug while his cronies held Connor back. "Get back to work!" he shouted to everyone. And of course everyone did as he said and went about their business.

I helped Charlotte for a little while longer. While I silently thought of ways to poison Murphy without anyone knowing that I had done it, I realized that Monty was right. Not only did I know a lot about plants, but I would probably feel really bad about it later. He was also right in saying I couldn't hurt a fly. Not that that was a surprise though, Monty was one of two people who knew me better than anyone else, and vice-versa.

Once I was done helping Charlotte, I went back to the dropship to check on Jasper. Only to see him and Octavia starting to walk towards the door. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, um, I thought it would be good for Jasper to get some exercise" Octavia told me. "He hasn't left the dropship since they brought him back."

"Is that alright?" Jasper asked, as if he needed my permission.

I simply shrugged. "I mean Clarke said it was okay a few days ago, so I don't see why not."

Suddenly Octavia's face lit up, "You should come with us!" she said enthusiastically. "Safety in numbers right?"

"Please, Seren?" Jasper pouted playfully.

"Stop making that face, loser, I'm in" I rolled my eyes before grabbing my trusty shoulder bag.

We left the dropship then. Octavia holding one of Jaspers hands while I had the other. As we slowly made our way around the bustling camp, Octavia and I pointed out all of the new... _features_ around the site. The tents and the fire pits, barrels we had cleaned out for water and baskets I had managed to make for any nuts and berries I found.

Jasper had done well walking around camp, so Octavia and I decided to sneak him through one of the many gaps in the wall. No one was watching it right now, so it would be easy to sneak through. If Octavia could tell that he was nervous, she didn't say anything. As we stepped past the wall and into the forest, Jasper lagged behind just a little while she let go of his hand and walked ahead. When his hand slipped from mine, I realized that he was scared. And why wouldn't he be? The last time he had been out in these trees, he had been speared and strung up as live bait. He had almost _died_.

"It's okay, Jas" I told him, grabbing his hand once again and giving it a firm squeeze.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Octavia asked when she realized that we weren't next to her.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. I'm good" he lied.

"Jasper it's been a week, okay?" she told him, thankfully she had picked up on the obvious lie as well. "You've been given a second chance. You gotta use it." Octavia's words were cut off by her scream as she was pulled behind a moss-covered tree stump. We heard her muffled screams, but neither Jasper or I moved for her just yet. Jasper was still in shock and I had no clue what I would do. How would I be able to fight off an attacker? I wasn't a violent person and couldn't even hit a wet paper bag, so to speak.

Finally Jasper rushed forward and I was right behind him, my hand gripping his jacket tightly. But it wasn't a grounder who had grabbed Octavia, or even a crazy mutated animal. No, it was someone from our own camp trying to get his jollies at Jaspers expense. As the dick walked away laughing, Octavia and I both tried our best to reassure Jasper. Telling him that there was nothing to be afraid of. Jas didn't listen though, he shook off our hands and turned to go back behind the walls.

Only he tripped. Instantly, Octavia and I went to help him up but he was frozen. His gaze fixed on one point in the grass. Furrowing my brow, I followed his line of vision before slapping my hand over my mouth with wide eyes. We had just found Wells' severed fingers along with the knife that had been used to murder him.

It was one of the homemade ones from camp.

We took the fingers and knife straight to Bellamy, grabbing Clarke on the way. My hands shook when I pulled Wells' fingers and the rough blade from my bag. After putting them on the make-shift table infront of us, I wiped my hands on my dirty pants and stepped back.

"This knife was made out of metal from the dropship" Clarke revealed.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked with wide eyes.

Sighing I just rubbed my forehead tiredly. "It means that it wasn't a grounder who killed Wells," I told him. "It was someone in camp."

"Who else knows about this?" Bellamy asked, glancing at me before looking to his sister.

"No one" Octavia shook her head. "We brought it straight here."

"Seren's right" Clarke said as she looked over the knife again. Pain written all over her face as she took in the blood that marred the metal. "The grounders didn't kill Wells, it was one of us."

"S-so, there's a murderer in camp?" Jasper asked.

"Not everyone one who was locked in that Sky Box were like us, Jas" I told him softly.

"There's more than one murderer in this cmap" Bellamy agreed before shaking his head. "This isn't news. We need to keep it quiet" he decided.

Quietly, Clarke looked down at the knife before making a snap decision. Instantly, she pushed away from the table and made her way to the opening of the tent. Before she could, though, I moved to stop her. I agreed with Bellamy, for right now we needed to keep quiet about what we had found in the woods.

"Get out of my way, Seren" the blonde all but growled at me.

"Clarke, be smart about this" Bellamy told her, putting a hand on my shoulder to lightly move me out of the way. "Look at what we achieved... the wall, the patrols. Like it or not, thinking the grounders killed Wells is good for us."

"Oh, good for _you_ , you mean" she snapped. "What... keep people afraid and they'll work for you? Is that it?"

"Yea, that's it" Bellamy nodded. "But it's good for all of us."

"He's right" I agreed, causing Jasper to look at me with wide eyes. "Everyone being afraid of the grounders is what is building that wall."

"And besides. what are you going to do" Bellamy continued. "Just walk out there and ask the killer to step forward? You don't even know whose knife that is."

"Oh, really?" Clarke scoffed, holding up the knife to show Bellamy the handle. "J.M. John Murphy. The people have a right to know" she said before shoving passed Bellamy and out of the tent.

"This is _so_ not going to end well" I groaned as we all followed after Clarke.

As I watched quietly from beside my friends. And it became more and more evident that Clarke wasn't confronting Murphy 'for the good of the people'. But for the good of her self. She felt guilty that she had pushed away Wells, treated him like garbage only for him to turn up dead.

I don't know what she was expecting to happen though. Even if Murphy was the one who had killed Wells, what good would accosting him do? We didn't have any jail system down here, and I knew for a fact that Clarke didn't have the stomach to 'get rid of him'.

"Recognize this?" she asked, holding up his homemade blade.

"That's my knife, where'd you find it?" the rat-faced boy told her as he tried to grab the knife back.

"Where you dropped it after you killed Wells" the blonde accused loudly.

"Where I _what_?"At the sound of her voice, everyone stopped working to watch the drama. "The grounders killed Wells, not me" Murphy scoffed.

"I know what you did" Clarke hissed. "And you're gonna pay for it."

"Really" Murphy rolled his eyes before looking over Clarke's shoulder at our fearless leader. "Bellamy, you really believe this crap?" he asked.

"You threatened to kill him. We _all_ heard you" Clarke accused before Bellamy could say anything. "You _hated_ Wells."

"Plenty of people hated Wells" Murphy responded. Clarke was one of those people not too long ago, but I didn't say anything. It wasn't necessary."His father was the chancellor that locked us up..."

"Yea, but you're the only one who got into a knife fight with him."

"Yeah, I don't kill him then, either" Murphy said with a scoff, though his voice was deathly calm.

After a moment, it was Octavia who spoke up. "Tried to kill Jasper too" said my only female friend.

I simply looked at her with wide eyes. " _What_?!" I all but shrieked. If it weren't for Monty's sudden appearance at my side, I probably would have broken my hand on Murphy's face. But that didn't mean I thought the psycho killed Wells. There were murmurs around the gathered delinquents as Murphy tried defending himself.

"This is ridiculous, I don't have to answer to you" he scoffed at Clarke before raising his voice. "I don't have to answer to anyone."

"Come again?"

After a few moments of silence, as the crowd continued to murmur and mumble among themselves, Murphy started walking towards Bellamy. Glaring, I did my best not to dig my nails into Monty's hand. "Bellamy, look, I'm telling you, man." Murphy defended. "I didn't do this."

"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife" Bellamy told his second-in-command in low voice. If he wanted to say anything more, he didn't get the chance as Clarke once again spoke. Only this time she was addressing the crowd around us.

"Is this the kind of society we want?" she demanded emotionally. " _You_ say there should be no rules. Does that mean that we can kill each other without...without punishment?" she asked.

"I already _told_ you. I didn't kill anyone" Murphy once again defended himself.

"I say we float him!" Connor called out, obviously wanting revenge against Murphy and several other delinquents were in agreement.

"That's not what I'm saying..." Clarke tried when she turned to face the other boy.

"Why not?" Connor all but scoffed. "He deserves to float. It's justice." And again everyone around us agreed.

"Revenge isn't justice" Clarke told them.

Realizing her words were falling on deaf ears, I simply rolled my eyes. She's the one that started this. What did Clarke think was going to happen? That she could accuse Murphy of murder and then...what?

"It's justice. Float him!" Connor shouted and instantly a chant started. And when Murphy went to charge Clarke, he was tripped. The second he hit the ground, the rest of the delinquents started pummeling him. I watched with wide eyes before taking a small step back, away from the craziness Clarke Griffin had started.

The blonde had tried to break things up but to no avail. Even Octavia tried to put a stop to it, but her brother grabbed her arm to pull her out of the way before she could get far. Murphy was down on the ground and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the criminals killed the rat-faced boy in their mugging. But no, instead they gagged him and took him away.

Things only escalated from there as they took the bully away from camp and tossed him down a steep hill. Now gripping Octavia's hand, we followed the crowd and my stomach turned when I saw some of them tossing a rope over a tree branch. They were planning on hanging Murphy. Nothing was stopping them now, now that they had the noose around Murphy's neck.

"You can stop this!" Clarke shouted at Bellamy, shoving his chest angrily. "They'll listen to you!"

"Bellamy! You should do it"! Connor suggested, his voice humming with the adrenaline he was feeling. "Bel-la-my! Bel-la-my!" he chanted.

"Bellamy please don't" I whispered when he glanced over to where Octavia and I were standing. I knew he couldn't hear me, but I could still hope. That hope, of course, was crushed when he went over to where Murphy was hanging. I had to slap my hands over my mouth to muffle the small scream that came from my mouth.

I didn't like John Murphy. In fact I hated him. But he didn't deserve to die. Let alone for something he didn't do. Murphy was a grade-A asshole who deserved to be kicked down a peg or two. But he didn't kill Wells, he would have owned up to it if he did. Proudly, even.

Murphy hung for a few moments, the delinquents urging on his death. Thankfully, Finn's voice sounded through the crowd, telling Charlotte to go back to camp before he rushed towards where Murphy was hanging. I was almost surprised that Conner had pulled a knife of Finn in order to stop the peacemaker from cutting down Murphy. When Charlotte tried to step forward, Octavia and I stopped her, both of us grabbing an arm. But she shook us off.

"Just stop ok?!" she shouted. "Murphy didn't kill Wells!" The crowd quieted down then How could this little girl know that? "I did!"

Oh. My. _God_!

A split second later, Clarke grabbed the ax from Bellamy's waist and cut the seat belts that the delinquents had used to lynch Murphy. Looking at Charlotte, I wanted to say something but no words formed. I couldn't tell her that it would be okay. Because there's no way it would be. She _killed_ somebody. She murdered Wells Jaha in cold blood. And as a result of her actions? Another innocent person was almost killed. Murphy may not have been innocent of a lot of things, but he was this time.

I didn't follow the others into the tent with Charlotte. Instead I sat outside with my boys and Octavia. Gripping onto the other girl's hand while Murphy paced infront of us. Blood and mud covered his face and his eyes were crazed.

"Bring the girl out, Bellamy!" he shouted.

A part of me wished I had followed them into the tent, if only so that I could know what they were talking about. I hoped it was some kind of solution, instead of Clarke blaming Bellamy for something that was out of his control. But knowing her, that was exactly what she was doing. I liked Clarke and all, but being a raging bitch was kinda her forte.

"You want to build a society Princess!" Murphy called out again. Flipping his knife over in his hand as he paced. "Let's build a society. Bring her out."

From where I stood, I could see a small portion of the tent move. Finn's eyes drifted over the small group of us that were on here before they settled on me. ' _Get her out of here_ ' I mouthed. I could barely make out Finns nod before he disappeared behind the canvas. Not even a minute later, Bellamy stepped out of the tent. As Murphy sauntered up to our 'leader', Octavia's hand tightened on mine and I couldn't help but squeeze back. The two of us depending on the other for support.

Bellamy and I were barely friends. He thought he could boss me around, and I fucking hated it. Some of his decisions since we fell from the sky have been shoddy, case in point Murphy. But Bellamy Blake wasn't an evil dictator.

"Well, Well, Well" Murphy sneered. "Look he decided to join us."

"Dial it down and back off" Bellamy told him.

"Or what?" asked Murphy. "What are you gonna do about it? _Hang me_?"

"I was just giving the people what they wanted."

Ooof that was the _wrong_ thing to say right now, Bell. With a sick smirk, Murphy's blood-soaked face turned towards the rest of us. Loudly, he asked who wanted to see Charlotte hung up as he had been. Only his guys and maybe a couple of people on the back rose their hands. Naturally Octavia, Jasper, Monty and I kept our hands down. None of us wanted Murphy to be lynched in the first place. So why would we want a twelve-year-old kid to be killed?

"I see" he scoffed. "So it's okay to string me up for _nothing,_ but when this little bitch _confesses_ , you all let her walk?!" shouted Murphy, pointing his knife at Bellamy's tent. Beside me Octavia scoffed, her body humming with anger. She obviously wanted to deck Murphy just as much as I did. "Cowards! All of you are cowards!"

Bellamy stepped forward then. Telling Murphy that this was over. The bloodied boy seemed to back off. But even I knew that he was faking complacency. However, Bellamy did buy Muphy's faux surrender. With a nod, Bellamy turned his back and started heading back towards his tent. But that was his downfall as Murphy took his chance, grabbed a hunk of firewood and bashed it against the back of Bellamy's head.

"Son of a bitch!"Octavia yelled, moving to charge towards Murphy. When the crazed teen advanced on my friend, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back. As I did, Jasper stepped in front of her, only for Murphy to break his nose.

"You mother fucker" I growled, much like Octavia, I went after Murphy. But it was Monty who held me back. And while Murphy and his followers marched into Bellamy's tent, I dropped to the ground beside Jasper. None of us tried to stop Murphy and his guys from marching off into the woods. If Clarke, Finn and Charlotte had gone out the back, as I suspected, then Murphy was going the wrong way.

I was going to go after them. I had made up my mind, but I wasn't stupid enough to try and navigate the woods in the dark. So, instead of running off after Clarke and Finn the moment Murphy was gone, I waited until Bellamy finally woke up. Safety in numbers and all that.

He had tried to fight me on it, ordering me to stay behind with Octavia. I told him to get over himself. He wasn't the boss of me, and if we wanted to find Charlotte before Murphy did then we needed to head out now. Thankfully he gave up on fighting me, instead he checked to make sure I had my knife on me. Obviously I did, so we wandered into the dark woods. I just hoped that we found the others before it was too late.

Neither of us said a word as we walked. We were both tensed and on guard, Murphy or even a grounder could pop out of the trees at any given moment. What I wasn't expecting was to see Charlotte of all people wandering around by herself.

"Bell" I whispered, nudging him lightly with my elbow. Gaining his attention, I motioned towards where Charlotte was. All Bellamy did was nod before walking over to the girl, his footfalls silent on the dried leaves. When he finally grabbed Charlotte his hand was the only thing muffling the scream that she let out. Instantly hushing the girl as he turned her around to face him. "Shh. Charlotte, it's just us" I told her before cursing, I could hear Murphy and his guys shouting into the trees. "Shit. We have to go" I told Bellamy. With a nod, he grabbed on to Charlotte's arm and started dragging her back the way we had came.

She didn't stop struggling. I had even tried to grab her other arm, but she had shoved me away. Bellamy and I shared an exasperated look before he tugged on Charlotte's arm once more. Looking behind me, I could see the orange glow of the torches through the trees. Way too close for comfort.

"Let me go!" the girl begged as she tried to pull her arm free from Bellamy's grip.

"I'm trying-" he started, pulling the girl back to him. When we stopped walking, I pulled my knife out of my pocket on instinct. "Hey, Hey. We're _trying_ to help you" Bellamy told her.

"I'm not your sister!" Charlotte snarled. "Just stop helping me!"

"Charlotte!" I hissed while Bellamy looked as if he had been smacked, allowing Charlotte the chance to finally pull her arm away from Bellamy.

"I'm over here!" she shouted as she used the separation to run towards where we had heard Murphy's voice.

"Kid, are you _trying_ to get us killed!?" I asked when Bellamy stopped her from running.

"Just-Just _go_ , you guys, ok?" she stammered. "I'm the one they want."

Grabbing on to Charlotte's jacket, Bellamy assured the girl that we wouldn't abandon her. The girl all but begged then. Begged Bellamy to just let her go so that she could pay for her mistakes. At least she knew, at least she understood that what she had done, that murdering Wells in cold blood wasn't something that could go unpunished. But sacrificing herself to a creep like John Murphy wasn't even close to being an option.

As the flickering torch flames drew nearer, Bellamy cursed under his breath before scooping Charlotte up in his arms. Really it was the only way to keep her from running to her death. It didn't stop her from crying out, shouting for Murphy.

We only stopped moving when there was no where else to go. When we found ourselves at the edge of a very high cliff. Waves of the river crashing on the rocks below. Screwed was only a small fraction of what we were.

"Damn it" Bellamy cursed when he finally put Charlotte down.

It was only a second later that we were joined by Murphy. The crazed look still present in his eyes. "The two of you can't fight all of us" Murphy said, glancing between Bellamy and me as the rest of his guys came through the trees.

"Maybe now, but I guarantee that we'll take a few of you with us" was Bellamy's response. His eyes cut to me and I sent him a small nod. I didn't know anything about fighting. All I knew was where to put my thumb. But really that was it. With a shuddering breath, I took a defensive stance. One hand balled into a fist, and the other holding the knife Bellamy had given me a few days ago.

"Bellamy! Seren! Stop!"

It was Clarke, followed shortly by Finn. Out of breath, the blonde put herself between us and Murphy's posse. Desperately, she had tried to calm Murphy down, tried to get him to sit and talk this through with us. She should have known that Murphy wasn't going to listen to her. The boy was dead set on his goal. Murdering Charlotte was the only thing that mattered to him now. Nothing Clarke said or did would change his mind. And her noble efforts were rewarded by Murphy grabbing her roughly. Nearly dislocating the blonde's shoulder in the process as he pressed his knife dangerously against her throat.

"I'm _sick_ of listening to you talk" Murphy snarled into Clarke's ear. My eyes widened with fear as I took a small step towards Charlotte, half shielding her body with my own. Not that I knew how to put up a fight against the likes of Murphy. I knew plants, not fighting. While I exchanged a worried glance with Bellamy, Finn took a cautionary step forward. Only to step back when Murphy pressed his knife harder against Clarke's throat and I could guarantee that he broke the skin. Our knives may have been crudely made, but they were still deadly sharp. "I will slit her throat" Murphy warned, pointing his finger at Finn.

"No please," Charlotte begged from beside me. "Please don't hurt her." As she spoke, Bellamy kept a precautionary arm in front of her. Effectively stopping her front moving forward.

"Oh don't hurt her?" Murphy mocked. "Ok, I'll make you a deal" he continued. His eyes crazed, his voice that of a man beyond too far gone. "You come with me right now and I will let her go."

Charlotte was going to go with him. I knew she was. The girl had been begging for Murphy to find her. You could practically smell the guilt for what she had done. For what she had caused with the murder of Wells Jaha. And if it wasn't for my arm and Bellamy's blocking her path, the young girl would have traded her life for Clarkes. Naturally, Clarke warned Charlotte back, telling her not to give herself up. It was at Clarke's words that Charlotte really started to violently push against me and Bellamy. All the way to the point where Bellamy had to have a firm grip on her shoulders. After a moment of struggling, Charlotte settled. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her back was rigid with fear.

"Murphy this is not happening" Bellamy told Clarke's captor.

"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore" Charlotte whimpered from behind me. "Not because of me. Not after what I did."

I should have seen it coming. I should have _known_ that Charlotte was going to jump. Since we found her in the woods, she had been so adamant, so _driven_ to atone for her sins. Even she knew, that the only way to make up for what she had done, to end John Murphy's deranged tirade, was for her to pay the ultimate price. Blood for Blood.

Bellamy had tried to grab her. Tried to stop her from falling to her death. But the girl was too quick. Jumping down to the freezing cold river below. All I could do was watch wide-eyed as she fell. Tears falling down my face. It took the three of us a minute to react, but when we did, it was Bellamy who struck first. Murphy had tried to say something, maybe to plead forgiveness, but before he could say more than "Bellamy," the man in question screamed and tackled the already-bloodied psycho. I could have sworn that I heard the wet ' _snap_ ' of Murphy's nose as Bellamy hit him over and over again. I didn't move to stop him. I didn't move at _all_. Just kept staring at the river below.

It was when Clarke moved from beside me that I finally looked away from the choppy waves below. I could hear her beg Bellamy to stop. Telling him that if he didn't then he was going to kill Murphy with his bare hands. I knew that's not what Bellamy Blake wanted. He may have been our Rebel King, but he wasn't a cold-blooded murderer. But it was only when Finn pulled him away that Bellamy stopped hitting the man beneath him.

"Get off me! He deserves to die!" Bellamy shouted.

As he shrugged Finn off, Clarke rushed to stand in front of him. "No!" she yelled back. "We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here."

"So help me god, Clarke, if you say the people have a right to decide-" I started, but Clarke cut me off. Shooting me a look before her red, tear-filled eyes met Bellamy's.

"No," she shook her head. "I was _wrong_ before, okay?" Clarke told us. "You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by ' _whatever the hell we want_.'" She continued, and I could that it was then that Bellamy realized that he was no longer completely in charge anymore. He couldn't be. "We need rules" Clarke said.

" And who makes those rules, huh? You?" Bellamy asked.

"For now, _we_ make the rules. Ok?"

"So, what then?" I asked, wiping the tears from my cheeks as I walked over to them. "We just take this sick bastard back to camp? Pretend like this never happened?"

"No!" Clarkes voice broke as she looked over her shoulder at Murphy who still hadn't moved from his spot on the ground. "We banish him."

Bellamy shared a look with Finn before looking at me. All I could do was nod, it was as good a plan as any. Inhaling deeply, Bellamy calmed himself for a minute before advancing on Murphy once again. Grabbing him by his jacket, Bellamy dragged Murphy over the where Charlotte had jumped to her death. Thinking the worst, Clarke begged him to stop. I just hoped he didn't do anything stupid.

"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll bed back here" Bellamy threatened lowly. So lowly, in fact, that I could barely decipher what he had said. "As for the four of you" Bellamy called out to the others as he threw Murphy back down to the dirt. "You can come back and follow me. Or go off with him to die. Your choice." And with that, Bellamy started walking back towards camp. Not wanting to be near this cliff anymore, I quietly followed behind him. It was only the sound of footsteps behind us that told me that Murphy's posse had decided to go back to camp. To leave Murphy to the Grounders.

The entire walk back, I stayed silent. I wanted to open my mouth and say something but really what could I say? Sorry this sweet kid killed herself, wanna get high? No. Because in no world would that be alright. So instead I kept my gaze on my feet, my knife still clutched firmly in my grasp. At least until we made it back to camp and my boys saw my red-rimmed eyes. They didn't need words to know what had happened. Instead Jasper pocketed my knife while he, Octavia and Monty hugged me tight. I didn't let a single tear fall as I did because I knew that if I started now, then I would stop. And sobbing in front of ninety-something teenagers wasn't something I wanted to experience.

After Clarke and Bellamy told the rest of the camp what had happened, Monty informed us that he had been able to patch through to the dropships mainframe. Instead of coming with us to the drop ship, Bellamy brought two girls back to his tent. And I had to push away the weird feeling in my gut.

"Will we be able to talk to them?" Clarke asked as we all looked over Monty's contraption.

"No." Monty sighed. "More like Morse Code" he told the blonde. "You wanna do the honors?" the question causing us to look at Jasper. I looked on as Jasper took the wire Monty handed him. "That port right there" Monty directed. Doing as he was told, Jasper lifted the wire and I help my breath as the live wire touched the still-working wristband. Suddenly, the electricity popped and the device smoked. I could hear the people outside let out small noises of shock. Looking at Finn, who was the only one of us to still have a wristband, I saw the silver hunk of junk detach itself from his arm.

"Monty, what the hell just happened?" I asked when Monty started fiddling with his wires.

"It didn't work" he told us, sighing in exasperation. I've known him long enough to know that he was disappointed in himself. "I think we fried all the wristbands. I could see Jasper sink down into one of the seats, and I knew that he was distraught. I had turned to walk over to him, but I was stopped by Octavia. Giving my friend a small nod, I squeeze Monty's shoulder before following Finn and Clarke out of the dropship.

I didn't talk to anybody. Instead I went back to the tent that I shared with Octavia and grabbed my burlap bag. The scent of the marijuana I had harvested wafting up to me. Sniffling, I pulled the flowers off of the stem and searched for the dried rose petals I had harvested the other day. As I listened to the light murmur just beyond the canvas of my tent, I broke apart the flowers and used the dried petals to roll up the weed. All I wanted to do was smoke and sleep off this extremely terrible night.


End file.
